Between Us
by JD Merchant
Summary: Chloe didn't think she would see Beca again. They broke up shortly after Chloe's graduation and didn't speak again for a whole year. But then Chloe got a phone call...
1. Chapter 1

"I need you."

She whispered, the cracked voice barely a whisper across the receiver of Chloe Beale's iphone. The ginger could feel the words she longed to say piling against her throat, refusing to jump forward towards the voice. Speechlessness and silence plagued her. What would she say to someone she hadn't spoken to in over a year? Someone she expected to be gone from her life forever? Someone she once loved so deeply so dearly, so irrevocably?

"I'm coming tomorrow. For Jessica's graduation." Chloe responded, closing her eyes and processing all that was happening.

"Chloe, I need to tell you something...I just need you here tonight...I can't stay til tomorrow..." The voice seemed to be losing grip with itself, frantic yet eerily calm. Chloe nodded, but remembered that she was on the phone. She couldn't find the words to say what she was thinking. "Please. I know you're in town. Please come tonight." The girl on the other line was beginning to cry, Chloe could feel her sobs, her tears dripping on her phone in little pitter-patter splashes.

"I'm on my way" Chloe responded.

Her tears had started pouring before she even hung up the phone. She didn't think she would ever get a chance to see this girl again, hold her again, comfort her. Yet now it seemed like that was exactly what was expected of Chloe. Only a few tears managed to escape Chloe for that moment before she composed herself. It would be quite a shock to see someone she was in love with a year ago so differently.

The ginger wiped her eyes, careful not to smudge her probably already-smudged-from-a-long-day mascara before eyeing her keys on the hotel counter. She took a deep breath, preparing herself.

_It's only her._ Chloe told herself as she snatched her keys and hotel room key card and headed out the door. She didn't know whether it was helping calm her nerves or helping excite them, but it made her feel content repeating that phrase in her head.

The entire walk to her Blue 2012 Chevy Malibu was agony. Every step made her breath catch in her throat a little more, her heart speed up until eventually skipping a beat. When she finally slid into the sleek black leather interior of her car, she was unsure whether or not she could even face who she was about to face. Was it worth it? Would she be able to provide exactly what the girl on the other line was asking of her?

Chloe wasn't sure about anything and her anxiety really wasn't helping. She pulled away from the parking lot of the hotel, her hands constantly drumming a beat against the steering wheel as she drove to Barden University. It was only 5 miles up the road and Chloe counted herself lucky to be so close in case something happened before graduation. She wasn't supposed to be there until lunchtime the next day, but she figured she could spend the night at the dorms and cause a little trouble like old days.

As the little blue car pulled into the parking lot, Chloe could already make out a dark figure in the cool summer night. She cut her engine, drawing in one last breath of her own personal air before staggering out of the car with more excitement then necessary.

"Chloe." The shadow croaked.

Chloe began running, running to hug the girl she hadn't seen for so long. When their bodies met, a spark seemed to kick through Chloe and all she could sense was the girl before her, in absolute perfection.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too, Beca." Chloe replied.

Beca's soft brunette curls bounced around Chloe's shoulder, giving off their usual vanilla scent that the ginger remembered so well. Chloe breathed it in as much as possible, relishing in the desire her heart was giving off before the hug broke.

"A whole year...damn it seems like it's been longer..." Beca cracked a smile, the kind of pained smile she gave off when something was really wrong. It looked as if she had been crying all day and Chloe could tell she had lost weight, grown weak in spirit and body.

"I know. It's kind of chilly. Want to talk in the car?" Chloe offered. After a moment, Beca nodded.

But the car didn't bring answers, just more silence. Neither girl said a word to each other, neither girl did anything except soak in the shock that was the situation.

"Chloe...why didn't you stay?" Beca finally threw forward, sending Chloe into confusion. The first time they'd seen each other in a year and that was the fastball Beca pitched right at Chloe's head?

For a second, Chloe felt a sting of bitterness, but it faded away as soon as she delved into Beca's beautiful, compassionate dark blue eyes.

"I couldn't. As much as I wanted to..it's hard to stay somewhere when you've been there for so long.. and I had a steady job already secured." Chloe replied, feeling Beca's eyes on her, judging her.

"Yeah, as a financier...dream come true.." Beca retorted.

"Look, it pays a lot. I have a studio in a safe part of LA."

"Was it worth leaving me?"

Silence. Everything seemed to tense. Was it worth it? Was Chloe just running? She banned these thoughts.

"I am so sorry, Beca. I really am." Chloe croaked, finally forcing herself to meet Beca's line of sight, to interrupt it. "I loved you more than you can even fathom. But I did what I had to."

"Loved? Past tense.."

"Is this why I'm here, babe? Are you wanting to...?" Chloe couldn't finish, she looked away.

"No...Chloe, I was with Jessie, remember?"

"Was?" Chloe noticed, her mind inquiring the past tense in the sentence.

"He's gone." Beca replied, shifting her gaze away for the first time during the conversation.

"Gone where?" Chloe could feel her blood boil. How dare he leave Beca? Was this some kind of sick prank?

"He dropped out, dumped me, his parents made him." The shuttering in Beca's voice was unmistakable.

"Why?" Chloe whispered, her stare having turned hard, but not at Beca, at Jessie.

Beca placed one hand on her stomach.

"It's his."


	2. Chapter 2

_"No...Chloe, I was with Jessie, remember?"_

_"Was?" Chloe noticed, her mind inquiring the past tense in the sentence._

_"He's gone." Beca replied, shifting her gaze away for the first time during the conversation._

_"Gone where?" Chloe could feel her blood boil. How dare he leave Beca? Was this some kind of sick prank?_

_"He dropped out, dumped me, his parents made him." The shuttering in Beca's voice was unmistakable._

_"Why?" Chloe whispered, her stare having turned hard, but not at Beca, at Jessie._

_Beca placed one hand on her stomach._

_"It's his."_

"Do you want me to sleep on the couch?" Chloe asked, standing firmly halfway between the hotel single bed and the brown leather chair in the corner near the lamp. The drive home with Beca had been silent, consumed by the shock Chloe had been smacked in the face with. So now it only made sense to give Beca her space. After all, she had a very tough road ahead.

Beca was pregnant. 4 weeks.

The father, Jesse, abandoned Beca which only made Chloe all the more pissed off. Even worse, Beca didn't even like Jesse in that way. The only reason she got back together with him was because her and Chloe never outed themselves to Professor Mitchell, Beca's dad, and Beca felt like she wouldn't fall for another girl after Chloe therefore she didn't need to tell her father. The only way he wouldn't be suspicious is if Beca dated a boy. So then there was Jesse, hopelessly in love with Beca. Beca didn't believe in love much and thought it might not be so bad to just date one of her best friends. Besides, she got along with him.

Chloe wasn't there to tell Beca how big of a mistake she had actually made dating Jessie for almost a year. She didn't mention her disappointment in the fact that Beca slept with a guy she didn't even love, when she resisted sleeping with Chloe the entire year they dated due to her "waiting for the right moment". Obviously, she found that moment with Jesse, and it made Chloe's blood boil.

But there was nothing Chloe could do at that point. Beca had a child growing inside of her, a child without a father and she asked Chloe to help her. It confused Chloe. How could she of all people be of any assistance to a child that was half Jesse's? She wasn't the mother or the father nor was she the significant other of the mother or father, but still there, standing in-between the bed and the chair, Chloe felt attached. She felt herself wanting to sleep in the bed with Beca, to be able to make sure the baby was okay, to make sure everyone was safe, but she had to pull herself away from that. She was not with Beca anymore!

"Can you maybe..." Beca halted her words, barely able to look into Chloe's troubled light blue eyes. Did they really want to go down this road again? Seeping in the same bed could lead to talking which could lead to feelings as well as other things they both hadn't felt in a year. Would that path be irreversible once gone down.

"Uhm...well-"

"You don't have to. Sorry...I- sorry. You don't have to." Beca shifted uncomfortably in the hotel bed, pretending she was trying to get comfortable to break some of the uneasy tension surrounding the two girls. Chloe thought for a moment, looking to the ground. _I'm going to regret this_, she thought, walking towards Beca and climbing into bed with her. To be honest, she didn't really have to think about it. Whatever Beca needed, she would be there.

"It's all good, Bec. I am never going to deny you something you need. And if you need me here to keep you comfortable then here I am." Chloe smiled, breathing in Beca's vanilla scent, the one Chloe remembered so well. Chloe had given Beca that body lotion for he birthday and Beca never stopped using that brand ever again. It became sort of a comforter for Chloe, smelling vanilla after a while calmed her anxiety.

"Thank you." Beca whispered. The position they were sitting in was awkward. Chloe was on one side of the bed, Beca pushed to another as if an invisible barrier had formed between them. After a few moments, Beca sat up in the bed.

"What's up, babe?" Chloe wondered, a bit concerned. She slowly lifted herself into a sitting position, her loose, messy ginger curs pouring over her shoulders like a waterfall of flames.

"This is ridiculous." Beca resonated a bit louder than the whispery voice she'd been using all night.

"What is?" Chloe wondered, cocking her head.

"This. We are like ten feet apart."

"Oh..sorry."

"Why does this have to be so weird? I mean, I've been way past violating your personal space before. We met naked in a shower for crying out loud! How come we get in a bed and suddenly forget that we've been down eachother's throats before." Beca explained. Chloe suppressed a laugh. The way Beca described her feelings was trivial and amusing; Chloe loved it.

"I guess time severs certain ties. It's hard to get back to that point." Chloe shrugged, moving a bit closer to Beca. "Is that better? I just don't want to bump the baby...I sleep like a UFC fighter, remember?"

Both girls laughed. It felt like old times. Well, except for Jesse's baby slowly becoming a living being inside of Beca.

Every moment presented itself perfectly and for once Beca was glad she had reached out and asked for help. She didn't know how long these sentimental moments would last, but she made a vow to herself to hold on to them as long as possible. She didn't know exactly what she wanted, but she knew it was there in that hotel room, and she had to seize it.

"I'm so sorry." Chloe's face fell as she apologized. Now it was Beca's turn to be a bit confused.

"For what?" Beca wondered.

"Leaving. I know you needed me more than anything. I should have stayed." Chloe admitted.

"Don't worry about it. Like you said, Hollywood had the job. You would've stayed if you could've gotten a job in Barden." Beca shrugged. Chloe's eyes twitched ever so slightly.

"Right." She nodded. Beca thought for a moment before sliding back down on the pillow.

They lay there in the silence for what seemed like hours. Somehow Chloe had moved close enough for Beca to rest her head on the gingers shoulder and Chloe was stroking Beca's silky brunette hair.

"You know I will be here for you always, right?" Chloe finally stated. Beca, barely awake, replied.

"Mhm." She mumbled.

"And I hope Jesse doesn't come back," Chloe began to whisper, unsure of where she was going with her words. "This baby is yours."

"The baby can be ours." Beca murmured.

But before Chloe could question the girl in her arms, Beca had dozed off to a dream world where nothing would hurt anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe awoke early the very next morning, five in the morning to be exact, feeling groggy and restless from her four hours of sleep. She had trouble dozing off when she thought of all of the things that could happen if she were unconscious. Beca could roll off of the bed and hurt herself or the baby, an intruder could come in and harm one of them, it could start thundering and a tornado could wipe them out. It's these kinds of thoughts that forced Chloe to understand exactly what expecting mothers went through for their children- and she wasn't even the pregnant one.

Not able to fall back asleep with all of the disastrous thoughts racking her brain, Chloe decided to surprise her old flame with a healthy breakfast in bed from room service. She grabbed a menu from the nightstand and studied it. Greasy bacon and sausage wouldn't be good for the baby's development, but Chloe also knew that Beca was no health nut. The ginger decided upon egg whites and extra lean sausage with toast and fruit, the perfect balance between a healthy pro-baby meal and a DJ-friendly diet. She could always eat what Beca didn't. She grabbed the phone, dialing 0-1-1 for room service.

"Hello, this is Chloe Beale from room 231, I'd like to order breakfast." She began in her cheeriest voice. Nobody enjoyed working that early, might as well not be rude to the room service employees.

"What would you like, mam?" The person on the other line seemed to be affected by Chloe's cheeriness, matching her attitude much to Chloe's pleasure.

"I would like three egg whites, two extra lean sausage links, wheat toast with light butter, and a bowl of mixed fruit with plain yogurt." Chloe finished, hearing buttons being punched on the other line. After a moment, the server spoke.

"Alright, will that be all for you, Mrs. Beale?" Chloe nodded, but then realized that she was on the phone.

"Yes, of course. Thank you! Oh and orange juice!" Chloe added, hanging up when the room service employee confirmed her order. Shortly after, the ginger heard rustling beside her. "Babe?" Chloe called, turning to see Beca rolling into an upright position.

"Yeah...what're you doing? What time is it?" Beca asked, her questions a bit too frantic for how early it was in the morning.

"Making you some breakfast before Jess' graduation. It's going to be a few hours, but it doesn't start until eight." Chloe shrugged. "I figured we could enjoy a breakfast and maybe go into the Historic Village. Visit the villas like you used to love-"

"I'm not going." Beca interrupted. Eliciting a concerned and surprised change of expression from Chloe.

"What? Why-"

"This was a mistake..." Beca promptly stood up from the bed, pulling on jeans over the boxer briefs she slept in, too lazy to remove them. She pulled on the cardigan she had been wearing yesterday and began collecting her things while Chloe just sat on the bed, not wanting to speak up for fear of angering the brunette. Her hormones were going crazy, maybe it would pass.

"No, none of this was a mistake...none of it..."

"See? That's what I'm freaking talking about, Chloe." Beca's annoyance level raised. Chloe continued on with her shocked visage.

"What do you mean?"

"Everything always has these double meanings. We can't just say 'i like you' or 'i don't feel that way' to each other. It's always gotta be these hidden, twisted meanings. I'm sick of it. Stop trying to get close to me again. I don't want this baby and I don't want you, Chloe!" Beca angrily stormed out of the hotel, shaking as she stormed away.

Chloe stared after the wide open door frame Beca had just disappeared through, tears beginning to form in her crystal blue eyes as she watched the girl go. What had she done to screw things up so much? All she wanted to do was reconnect with someone she should have never left and when she tried she was pushed to the curb and left alone. Why would Beca do this? Surely it was only pregnancy hormones, right? She was so apt about Chloe helping her yesterday then today she is adamant about setting Chloe on fire and hiding the number to the fire department.

The ginger felt her lungs burn as if she had swallowed kerosene. Having anybody mad at her genuinely got to her, but when it was Beca it just stung worse, like her wounds were being cauterized. Was she still in-?

No.

She had to move forward, not back. She had her studio apartment in L.A, a solid job, and a great family. How could she just move back to Atlanta after everything that had happened over the course of the year she and Beca dated? Even now that Beca was pregnant what could Chloe do; be a second mother? That is not what the child needed. She needed her first mother to love her with all of her heart, that was it.

"Fine." Chloe whispered to herself as if testing the situation for it's reality and whether or not she still had a voice. "Fine." She repeated, this time as if she were checking to see if she were okay...fine. She stood from the bed, wrapping her robe around her. How long had she been staring through the door frame? She trudged over to it, closing the door and locking it. Wait a second. How was Beca going to get home?

Chloe swung the door open, grabbing her keys and running to the back stairwell. She was in the front of the hotel in a matter of seconds, scanning the hot parking lot for Beca. She ran towards the very front arches, turning the corner to where the taxi pick up was. Beca stood there, stubbornly, her arms folded over her chest and her cardigan pulled tightly over her body protectively. Chloe slowly approached Beca, her arm outstretched.

"I don't want to talk." Beca snapped.

"Me either, but I am taking you home. In silence or not." Chloe demanded. Beca rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you just leave me alone, Chloe. We can't go back to what we were."

"I never said we were, Bec. I never even spoke of it. You did. I just want to give you a ride home as a friend." Chloe cooed. Beca rolled her eyes once more, staring in the opposite direction in absolute frustration.

"We aren't friends. Friends don't leave each other."

"Then I want to give you a ride home as someone with morals. I'm not letting you take a taxi with some sex obsessed 60 year old perv."

Beca's eyes softened, but then Chloe noticed a blue avalanche truck pull up to where they were arguing. Inside was Beca's boss from the radio station, Luke. He smiled at Beca, getting out and helping her into the car with benign hands. He smiled at Chloe, nodding in thanks as he got into the driver's seat and the two zoomed off, leaving Chloe sulking in the dust like a piece of litter.


End file.
